Nearly 100 students gathered in Union Square on Weds., Feb. 1, 2012, to ask the Department of Education to spare the school from closure. View Full Caption

DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

UNION SQUARE — The city Department of Education will vote next week on whether to close a struggling Greenwich Village high school — a proposed move that saw students walk out of class Wednesday to plead for the school's future.

Nearly 100 students from Legacy School for Integrated Studies on 34 W. 14th St. gathered in Union Square Wednesday afternoon to ask the Department of Education to keep the school open despite its poor marks.

Senior Janill Mateo, 17, who chanted "Legacy" and "save our school" along with the crowd in Union Square Park, said Legacy's attentive teachers helped her raise her grades.

"I think instead of trying to close the school, [the DOE] should try to help it," she said. "I know with even a little bit of support, we can improve."

"We believe that the school community has recently made great strides in turning Legacy around and should be given the opportunity to make improvements," read the Jan. 31 letter to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

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